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BOOKS possibly to be recommended - any comments? - see our website email link on Home Page Vic will gradually reduce these mini-reviews to a "star" system, using Emoticons - the more stars the better, & reservations indicated by the expressions - eg   = maybe silly & a bit of a pain; but  = really good & a laugh (a bit of fun for you to work out?) Earlier Reads (Starting mid-2009) Doris Lessing's 'London Observed - Stories & Sketches' -    CJ Sansom's "Winter in Madrid" - "World Without End" by Ken Follett -    "The Haunted Hotel" by Wilkie Collins - 'Blackadder' comedies scripts - "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", by Stieg Larsson - "The Return", by Victoria Hislop - "Brother & Sister" by Joanna Trollope - "Chocolate & Cuckoo Clocks - The Essential Alan Coren" -  "The Stained Glass of A.W.N Pugin" by Stanley A. Shepherd - "The Decline & Fall of the British Empire" by Piers Brendon - "A Cup of Tea in Pamplona", by Robert Laxalt - "Historic House" magazine of the Historic Houses Association -  Latest "France" magazine . "The Lost Upland", by W.S. Merwin - "Stories of Southwest France"  - perhaps Vic's favourite book for some time "Fractured" by Ruth Dee - one hell of a journey, but nothing like that for "Ruth" .... "Shield & Crest" by Julian Franklyn: "And Now All This", by W.C.Sellars & R.J.Yeatman - "A Complete Guide to Heraldry" by AC Fox-Davies - For references to other HERALDRY books in our 'Gallery', click here & here 2010-02-05 : Vic: "The Master and Margarita" by Mikhail Bulgakov 2010-02-14 Donna Leon's "Friends in High Places" 2010-03-15 "Cathedral by the Sea, by Ildefonso Falcones . 2010-03 Alongside these back-numbers, Vic also read the latest "Journal" & "Newsletter" from the Church Monuments Society, which, as usual, add insights into Heraldry from other angles, & into interesting churches. 2010-03-27 "A Noble Radiance", Donna Leon .... superb 'tec' novel : horrific implications of the punning title April 2010 "Company of Liars", 'a novel of the Plague', by Karen Maitland - another better historical novel & a build-up of real horror, ... maybe disappointing, petering-out end - but, then, where do you go after the demoralisation these characters suffer? April 2010 Donna Leon's "The Death of Faith" -usual brilliance + some lovely vignettes in the form of the subtle & simpatico Vianello, "subordinate" to Brunetti .... ends on a strangely current note, the scandals dogging the Church - cynicism under the apparent resolution. May 2010 Vic finished Ian McEwan's "On Chesil Beach" still that sense that he hasn't decided what he wants to write? For such a relatively late novel in his career, should he still be apparently saying, "Now, what sort of novel should I try next?" May 2010 Completed by Vic- "Queen Camilla" by Sue Townsend, ... hilarious, sympathetic, often strangely predictive & "simpatico" - Royal Family ghettoed in social exclusion zone by anti-royalist régime: "Brilliant!" June 2010 Vic has finished: "The American Boy" by Andrew Taylor (no relation!) excellent bit of fictional exploration / re-creation, but not conventional "hist-fict" - invites comparison with Dickens, Poe, etc. (based on a small period in the life of young Edgar Allen Poe), but stands in own right as a piece of gothick writing - gripping & well crafted. Vic has ploughed very quickly & very easily through the first of Henning Mankell's Wallander books, after we have so much enjoyed both the original Swedish series & the English Branagh versions. This first book, "The Pyramid", is in fact a collection of shorter stories, with the title piece more of a longer novella - not just perhaps essential reading to understand what makes Wallander tick( & sometimes not tick!), or to understand the Swedish mindset (such as we learned to appreciate on our trip to Vic's half-sister & family in 1999 for our 25th Wedding Anniversary), but very much as a superb set of tales of mystery, intrgue, crime & character - highly recommended - must read more! Vic has also finished "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows - some hesitation (not yet quite allayed by the end) from so many reviews of it inside the front cover extolling its "heart-warming nature", its mass of "lovable people" & "characters so utterly wonderful that I kept forgetting that they weren't my actual friends and neighbors" .... - eventually seems less condescending or patronising & some of the characters (including the circle of the "narrator") are hardly "heart-warming"...perhaps unsurprising, considering the gossipy-letter format? - overall "message" of the story becoming clearer, as the narrator & her circle come to learn that their superficial literary world is not quite enough ... Not totally convinced. Vic finished, while away with friends in Wilts & Warwickshire, a Tracey Chevalier novel, "Falling Angels", which got even more interesting after the intriguing first few pages - a clever & poignant bit of work on the suffragette movement, seen especially through the eyes of three women, but also with other views, sometimes tellingly male; .... a very, very tragic & bitter outcome, perhaps inevitably built into the implications of why & how women sought freedom .... Alan Sillitoe's "The German Numbers Woman" - always admired since our early acquaintance with his work & the association with our Nottingham..... everything you would expect of him - beautifully crafted ... strange, but absolutely compelling, with its mixture of quite gritty realism & frequent spells of what might be described as very "operatic" stuff for the thoughts & emotions, plus an oddly convincing "happy-ever-after" conclusion following a violent climax.  Just a Taste ....................... AND NOW CLICK THE "READ" BUTTON BELOW FOR "CURRENT READS", .... and then a new sub-section, via a "Next" link to a page of Reviews by a friend ... qv at end of immediate next page
CURRENT READS?
Vic has now just started Martin Walker's "Bruno Chief of Police" see Helen's Reviews via "Next" link below- very evocative, but with a slightly sentimental view ,of a French town, which sits a little uneasily so far with the very grim crime that forms the starting point for Bruno's investigations & actions as a local figure .... 2010-08-25 - Vic has also finished another Tracey Chevalier novel, "The Lady and the Unicorn" - hist-fiction, again with a difference? - maybe not quite so encouragingly as "Girl with a Pearl Earring" or "Falling Angels" (see Earlier Reads on "Previous" page for latter) - why do authors writing a story of or through French people, like this one, have to bung in words like "Alors?" instead of "So then?" or "And?" or other English idioms? - is it just to impress? - does it really make it more authentic? - Despite this, though, some real compassion staring to show in the story as views on a rakish artist alter & become more realistic & rounded via the different storytellers. A very resigned ending, with a medieval context touching universal sensibilities. Christine was also really taken over by "The American Boy - a not-to-be-put down book. 2010-04-07 Christine had been enjoying WS Merwin's "The Lost Upland" (see 'Earlier Reads') - finding it just as evocative as Vic did - we occasionally find ourselves comparing notes, & our memories of France & its lovely & sometimes quirky way of life ... ... and then took a break from it by also reading Donna Leon's "Friends in High Places" & is just finishing "The American Boy" - see back to 'Earlier Reads' REGULAR READS: Vic also has under weigh, for his "downstairs" reading (ie not bedtime!), for interests/hobbies/pastimes: Regular copies of the "Oldie" mag - easy-reads with an edge ....and, again regular, the "CAM" magazine for Alumni of Cambridge University Also latest editions of "France" magazine - great to read in the up-&-down English weather we've been having. "CAM" magazine for Alumni of Cambridge University - 2010-03 Vic's associate membership of the British Society of Master Glass Painters brought us the latest edition of the BSMGP "Journal", very enriching, especially in its illustrations, along with back numbers ordered to link up with visits & other reading we've done. One back-number very interesting, containing the views of the French 19th C state architect, Viollet-le-Duc, on the idea of the subtlety of complementary colours in medieval stained glass, just tying in nicely with Christine's exploratiion of watercolours in her U3A group. 2010-03 Alongside these back-numbers, Vic also reads the latest "Journal" & "Newsletter" from the Church Monuments Society, which, as usual, add insights into Heraldry from other angles, & into interesting churches. For references to some other HERALDRY books in our 'Gallery', click here & here Now try our page of Helen's Reviews - follow the "Next" link below:
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